how to make a mule 

St. Albert the Great, De animalibus, Paris 14th century.

BnF, Latin 16169, fol. 84v

King Solomon’s cat 

‘The king sat to sowper and othre, wyth whom sat marcolph, and had alle pryvely put into hys sleve thre quyk myse. There was norysshyd in the kinges house a catte, that every nyght as the king sat at sowper, was wont to holde betwyxt hyre fore feet a brennyng kandell upon the tabyll. Thanne lete marcolph oon of the myse go out of his sleve. As the catte that saugh, she wolde have lept aftyr: but the king gave hyr a wynke or countenaunce, that she bode stylle syttyng and removyd not. And in like wyse dede she of the secunde mowse. Thanne lete marcolph the thrydde mowse go, and as the katte sawe he cowde no lenger abyde, but kaste the kandell awaye and lept aftyr the mowse and toke it. And as marcolph that sawe; sayde to the king. Here I have now provyd before you that nature goth afore lernyng. The king sat to sowper and othre, wyth whom sat marcolph, and had alle pryvely put into hys sleve thre quyk myse. There was norysshyd in the kinges house a catte, that every nyght as the king sat at sowper, was wont to holde betwyxt hyre fore feet a brennyng kandell upon the tabyll. Thanne lete marcolph oon of the myse go out of his sleve. As the catte that saugh, she wolde have lept aftyr: but the king gave hyr a wynke or countenaunce, that she bode stylle syttyng and removyd not. And in like wyse dede she of the secunde mowse. Thanne lete marcolph the thrydde mowse go, and as the katte sawe he cowde no lenger abyde, but kaste the kandell awaye and lept aftyr the mowse and toke it. And as marcolph that sawe; sayde to the king. Here I have now provyd before you that nature goth afore lernyng.’

Hans Vintler, Die pluemen der tugent, Vienna 1450.

Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, cod. s. n. 12819, fol. 130r

Lady Monkey spinning

‘The Maastricht Hours’, Liège 14th century.

British Library, Stowe 17, fol. 114r

war elephant

bestiary, England 13th century.

Bodleian Library, MS. e Mus. 136, fol. 19v

grumpy rabbits

‘Cymiculus dat es een coniin 
Dier uele in uelen lande siin 
In daerde wonen si in holen 
Nachts so comen si vte gestolen…’

Jacob van Maerlant, Der Naturen Bloeme, Flanders ca. 1350.

Den Haag, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KA 16, fol. 53r

don’t mess with female saints 

St. Juliana of Nicomedia and the devil (‘Hic bellum sathane superat virtus Iuliane’)

Picture Bible, Abbey of Saint Bertin, Saint-Omer (?), ca. 1190-1200.

Den Haag, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 76F5, fol. 32r

monkey prank

Jean de Wavrin, Recueil des croniques d’Engleterre, Bruges 1471-1483.

British Library, Royal 15 E IV, fol. 192r

sequitur de astronomia

Aurora consurgens, St. Gallen 15th century.

Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, Ms. Rhenoviensis 172, fol. 11r

dragon in the bedroom

(conception of Alexander the Great)

‘Talbot Shrewsbury book’, Rouen 1444-1445.

BL, Royal 15 E VI, fol. 6r

death of Hanno the Great

Boccaccio, De casibus virorum illustrium (French translation by Laurent de Premierfait Des cas des ruynes des nobles hommes et femmes), Bruges ca. 1479-1480.

BL, Royal 14 E V, fol. 164v

cat’s in the well

aussi aise que ung chat qui reculle en ung puis

Hours, Rouen 15th century.

BNF, Nouvelle acquisition latine 3134, fol. 80r

practical joke

Gorleston Psalter, England 14th century.

BL, Add 49622, fol. 119r

rabbit funeral

Gorleston Psalter, England 14th century.

BL, Add 49622, fol. 133r

monkey goatse

Gorleston Psalter, England 14th century.

BL, Add 49622, fol. 102v

flying pig

Hours, France 15th century.

Tours, BM, ms. 2273A, fol. 8r